A Captain's Duty
by Caz Malfoy
Summary: The one thing a Captain must succumb to is his duty.


**Title: **A Captain's Duty  
**Pairing: **Jack/Ianto, Jack/Jack  
**Spoilers: **Captain Jack Harkness (1x12)

x

Ianto watched as Jack reached for the bottle, slowly pouring the amber liquid inside into a small glass. He had been observing the Captain for almost two hours and Jack was currently on his third glass of alcohol. If Jack were any other man, Ianto would be worried about the amount of liqueur he had drank, but he was all too aware that it took much more than a couple of glasses for Jack to become completely drunk. In his earlier days working for Torchwood Three, Ianto had found his boss more than slightly worse for wear on more occasions than he cared to count. Jack only drank when something affected him deeply, but when he did drink, he seemed to like killing as many brain cells as possible, as quickly as possible.

Carefully he pushed the stopper into the bottle and slid it into the cupboard behind Jack's desk. He didn't speak as he closed the doors and stood upright, glancing down at the other man.

Jack hadn't moved from his seat for the entire time that Ianto had been watching him. His shoulders were squared tensely and his spine was perfectly straight, rigid even.

The younger man took several steps forward, brushing his fingers over Jack's shirt-clad shoulder blades and up the back of his neck. He threaded his fingers through Jack's wonderfully soft hair, allowing himself a tiny smile when Jack's breath hitched and his head fell forward a little.

Ianto's hands travelled back down to Jack's shoulders, his thumbs caressing the skin just above his collar before he tightened his grip, slowly massaging the knots from the Captain's muscles. "You couldn't have saved him," he finally spoke; his voice no more than a whisper, yet it seemed to fill the room entirely.

Jack took a long drink from his glass and sighed before he answered. "I know."

It was a curt response and Ianto could tell that his boss was sinking further and further down the abyss into which he always retreated after a particularly bad day. A few months ago, the Welshman would never had attempted to follow Jack into that abyss, yet now, here he was, more than ready to march beside him and help bring him out of it.

"Tell me about him." It wasn't a question, it was an order and Jack's head snapped up in surprise and his shoulders tensed once more, before he relaxed and allowed Ianto to complete his massage.

"He was… beautiful," Jack eventually spoke, running his finger tips around the edge of the glass. "You could tell he was _destined _to be a pilot. The way the uniform fit him; it looked like it had been designed specifically for him, you know?"

Ianto didn't reply, he merely continued with his task. He knew what Jack meant; after all he had seen pictures of him wearing his RAF uniform and personally couldn't think of anyone who could look sexier wearing it.

Jack pushed his glass away from him a little; indicating that he didn't want any more, which made Ianto smile affectionately. "He had a girlfriend," Jack whispered. "Nancy. She was gorgeous as well… Two beautiful people meant to be together and I took that away from them with one dance."

Ianto's grip faltered at Jack's statement. Not because of the other man's admission about dancing with the other Captain, he had already learnt about that from Tosh. The pain he could sense in his lover's voice was heartbreaking for the younger man and he found it almost impossible to bear.

"Who asked whom to dance?" he whispered, leaning forward and pressing his lips against the top of Jack's head. He already knew the answer, but needed Jack to see it as well.

"He came over and took my hand," Jack murmured, reaching up and covering Ianto's hand with his own for a moment before moving it away. "But he should have been with her."

"Then it was his choice to have that dance, it wasn't anything to do with you," he told him firmly. "Don't insult his intelligence by assuming he wasn't in control of what he was doing. If he wanted to be with Nancy, he would have been. Instead he was in your arms."

Jack remained silent and lowered his head. From the reflection in the glass opposite the desk, Ianto could see that his eyes were downcast and staring blankly at the papers in front of him. He couldn't help but think that Jack looked like a small boy who had just been given a thorough telling off by a teacher. "What did you say when you left?"

The breath Jack drew in was deep and shuddered a little as though he were desperately trying to hold back tears. "That it was my duty. I… I couldn't think of something else to say. I couldn't find the words to explain to him why I wasn't staying around."

Ianto finally took his hands from Jack's shoulders and placed them on the back of the chair. He gave it a firm push and turned the older man around so that he could look into his watery sky-blue eyes. "You were right. Torchwood Three is your duty. All this," he indicated the office around them and the Hub just beyond the door, "is your responsibility. Gwen, Owen, Tosh, me… we're the ones who need you around."

Jack opened his mouth, but Ianto silenced him by placing a finger over his lips. "Captain Harkness needed you for one night; he needed you to show him one night of perfect happiness. I guarantee you; he felt that perfection in your arms as the pair of you danced."

"You came back to us because we need you here, Jack. He was needed in 1941; his men needed him to die for them." Ianto had been reading up about the real Jack Harkness while Tosh had been assisting Owen in bandaging the bullet wound Ianto had given him. "He died to save their lives; his plane going down, told them there was real danger in the area and gave them a chance to get out of there and live their lives."

"I'm sure your words reminded him that despite his feeling, the one thing a Captain must succumb to is his duty."

He ran a hand over Jack's unshaven cheek, feeling the stubble underneath his palm while he ran his thumb over his cheekbone. Jack's eyes fell closed when Ianto leant forward and pressed their lips together in a chaste kiss.

Feeling too drained to argue, Jack allowed himself to be pulled to his head and practically manhandled into his sleeping quarters, where Ianto set himself the task of erasing all remnants of darkness from the Captain's mind and soul.


End file.
